Liberal Arts & Science Studies

GED Writing Skills

Course Outline
Upon completion of this course you will be able to answer questions and solve problems involved in effective writing at the GED level. This course covers mechanics, usage and sentence structure and essay writing skills. Skills taught in this course are used by a broad range of people in their daily work which usually involves record keeping and report writing as well as (possibly) writing Proposals for projects on the job. This is a single stream course.

Topics of study covered within this course includes the following: 

• Mechanics: Capitalization • End Punctuation •
• Commas • Semicolons • Apostrophes and
• Quotation Marks • Basic Spelling and
• Contractions • Possessives and Homonyms
• Usage: Parts of Speech • Subject Verb
• Agreement • Irregular Verbs • Verb Tenses •
• Personal Pronouns • Pronouns and Antecedents •
• Indefinite Pronouns • Adjectives and Adverbs
• Sentence Structure: Sentence Fragments • Runon Sentences • Combining Sentences • Parallel
• Structure • Subordination • Misplaced Modifier •
• Shift of Focus • Revising Sentences
• Revision of Mechanics
• Essay Planning: Figuring Out the
• Topic•Understanding the Instructions•Choosing
• Your Main Idea•Gathering Ideas•Organizing:
• Grouping and Naming your Ideas•Expanding
• Your Groups•Ordering Your Groups•Writing:
• Writing Your Introductory Paragraph•Writing
• Your Body Paragraphs•Developing Your Body
• Paragraphs•Writing Your Concluding
• Paragraph•Evaluating: Ideas and
• Organization•Use of the Conventions of English
• Revising Your Essay: Revising Ideas and
• Organization•Revising Use of the Conventions of
• English•More on Prewriting: Planning:
• Brainstorming•Asking Questions•Using an Idea
• Circle•Organizing: Mapping•Outlining•Raising
• Your Score: Writing: Using
• Transitions•Including Facts and Opinions•Using
• Precise Words•Power Review